After all is said and done, we turned the hallway into our "entrance" since there was no room with the sloped ceilings for posters or the like. The clock was a gift from a friend of mine he built from an old film reel, and definitely our favorite knick knack.
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My Yet To Be Named - Minimal Construction HT Build Thread
Ok, since I have now officially begun work on it (stripping the popcorn texture off the ceiling is my inaugural task), I suppose it’s time to start the obligatory “please help me figure everything out” build thread. I’ve been doing planning for a couple months and think I’ve got most of the stuff worked out, but still have a few sticking points I’m not 100% on. First up, the room. I’ll call it the nearly perfect room:
The room:
The goals:
The rules:
First, gotta give props where due and admit I’m a damn lucky husband. WAF is not an issue. My wife is the type that when I was standing looking at a 50” plasma to replace our first 42” years ago, she nudged me and pointed to the 65” next to it with a big grin. When we were planning this first dedicated HT build, she was trying to figure out if we could afford raising the roof 3 or 4 feet to get around the low knee wall issue and let us have a bigger screen. Could a guy ask for anything more? Ok, back to the rules:
The Equipment: (at least current plan)
The back wall opposite the equipment rack will house a popcorn machine and mini fridge concession area. Nothing too fancy.
I’m attaching some pics, sketches, and a couple renders that Silva741 did for me. As you can see, the window is pretty huge on the wall, which is part of the reason it’s staying too. We’re going with a black and dark, dark red theme. Screen wall will be covered in dark, dark red curtain; the window being the biggest reason, figure it’ll also help keep some sound reflection down. Knee wall and back wall will be the same shade of red, sloped and center ceiling sections will be black. I’m toying with covering the sloped parts in Royalty 3 velvet, still debating that piece.
The room:
- 24ft x 14ft, 8ft ceiling. No wall or ceiling beams to deal with.
The goals:
- Comfy seating for 4
- Overflow for 8 to 10 (occasionally more, but those will be few and far between)
- Largest screen feasible
- Dolby Atmos capable
- Star ceiling (DIY from NightSky is the plan)
The rules:
First, gotta give props where due and admit I’m a damn lucky husband. WAF is not an issue. My wife is the type that when I was standing looking at a 50” plasma to replace our first 42” years ago, she nudged me and pointed to the 65” next to it with a big grin. When we were planning this first dedicated HT build, she was trying to figure out if we could afford raising the roof 3 or 4 feet to get around the low knee wall issue and let us have a bigger screen. Could a guy ask for anything more? Ok, back to the rules:
- The window must stay. There are several reasons for this, so we both agree on that one.
- Mostly superficial construction. We’ll probably be here for a few more years yet, but the plan will ultimately be moving, so I’m trying to make it easy to turn back into a bonus room to sell the house (less hassle than trying to find someone looking for a pre-built theater). The soffit will likely be the biggest exception to this rule, but even that can come out relatively easily. On that note. Soffit will be where the slopes meet the center ceiling. 5” or 6” down and 15” wide. Will house 3 or 4 can lights on each side plus 2 Atmos speakers on each side.
- Trying to keep budget to around 15k, and since we’re going all new equipment, 9k or so of that will be lost there. I’ve actually got most everything priced out, should be able to stick pretty close to it. I know around here that’s a contradiction in terms, but I’m trying. After furniture, I’m estimating about 2k for paint, materials, and carpet. Though if I find used theater seats, I’ll likely recoup another grand or so.
The Equipment: (at least current plan)
- Projector – JVC RS400u
- Screen – EliteScreens Spectrum2 series 100” (this is the largest drop screen I can fit thanks to the barn shape, and need drop down because of the window)
- AVR – Denon x6200w
- BD Player – Oppo BD-103 (unless their 4k unit hits early, but most likely this)
- Atmos Amps – Audiosource Amp100vs X2 (I could get away with 1, but figure I’ll do all 4 Atmos speakers amped off of the AVR)
- L/R/C speakers – Ascend Acoustics CMT-340
- Sub – Ascend LV12R
- Surround and Atmos speakers – Micca in ceiling and in wall units (I know, but helps budget and I can upgrade later if desired. Plus I’ve never felt the need for super high end effects speakers)
- Cables – TBD. I have about 250 feet of 14 gauge CL2 rated speaker cable and banana plugs but I’ll still need the HDMI interconnects and will run a cat6 to the projector. Cable run to projector will be 25’ if I’m lucky, but might have to stretch to 30.
- Optional (hopeful) – Amp and Bass shakers x8 to cover the 4 main and 4 theater seats
- Optional – 3D stuff (since the JVC is reputed to work well even with some of the cheaper stuff, might give it a try)
- Front row seats – Fusion Jive 1013s in Brown from Roman. They’re about the only ones I can find narrow enough to give me 4 seats and still have room to walk around with the sloped ceiling. 4 seat curved with loveseat in the middle. (Little wider than 4 straight, but not enough to make a difference) The brown part may be the only WAF thing to factor in to this. She hates black leather furniture. But with the color theme, it should work. We’re going to try and coordinate the carpet to the seats.
- Second row seats – Good quality theater seats. Hoping to find some used for a good deal, but barring that will go with ordering some new ones. Will be on 8” 6x9 riser with a bar back inspired by Snickers’ Merrimont Trace thread as suggested to me by Jeff.
The back wall opposite the equipment rack will house a popcorn machine and mini fridge concession area. Nothing too fancy.
I’m attaching some pics, sketches, and a couple renders that Silva741 did for me. As you can see, the window is pretty huge on the wall, which is part of the reason it’s staying too. We’re going with a black and dark, dark red theme. Screen wall will be covered in dark, dark red curtain; the window being the biggest reason, figure it’ll also help keep some sound reflection down. Knee wall and back wall will be the same shade of red, sloped and center ceiling sections will be black. I’m toying with covering the sloped parts in Royalty 3 velvet, still debating that piece.
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You should be able to fit a 120" screen in there and use Big's simplest screen so it doesn't have to lay against the window.
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Guess it would kind of depend if you choose to do a stage or not. But trust that 120" would look a lot better. A lot of guys have always moved up from 100" to 120" in similar spaces. I'm excited to see your build, good luck and congrats.
Guess it would kind of depend if you choose to do a stage or not. But trust that 120" would look a lot better. A lot of guys have always moved up from 100" to 120" in similar spaces. I'm excited to see your build, good luck and congrats.
Thanks, Jeff. As to the window, the trick is it serves several functions where we still need access to it. Air being a very small one, yes, but more it's a major source of natural light for my office across the hall (I work from home, so this is somewhat important). Even with the furniture and dark walls, it would be providing some during the day. Plus, during the holidays, it is key to some decorations. I do a yard haunt during Halloween, and this particular window provides some ghost shadows and such, and at Christmas hosts a decorated tree. Finally, it's a front facing window, so covering over would just look kind of crappy from the street. So while it's a 90% dedicated theater, that other 10% is key.
And it's a finished room, so has 2 vents and a return. I'm actually considering increasing the upstairs unit by half a ton to compensate.
(and you should taste my chili recipe... might make that first part seem more important
)So an opinion question. I mentioned I was thinking about trying to cover the two sloped ceiling sections with fabric (possibly the JoAnn Royalty 3 product), and while thinking of how best to staple so that they're not visible. In addition, I thought of adding a strap under each can light that would be red matched to the wall and curtains, maybe with a black stripe as well. Something like the attached. It seems to look ok on the render, but trying to picture it in a real world scenario. Anyone ever done anything like that who could provide a little input?
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Ceiling and walls primed, and the mouse ears has gone up on the ceiling. Picture was taken between coats. We're still finalizing the curtain material for the front wall, and the vertical walls will be color matched to that (a crimson color). So for now they get to stay primer gray.
Even with the first coat barely dry, I was impressed with the blackness and lack of reflectivity.
Even with the first coat barely dry, I was impressed with the blackness and lack of reflectivity.
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Tackled the beginning of the only "construction" part of the minimal construction project. And I learned that what I thought were nice true 2x3s were just me not knowing enough about them. Lesson #2 learned, a home table saw without a long table to rest an 8' 2x3 on is incredibly difficult to cut 5" spars with. There are about 4 or 5 in total that are more crooked than I anticipated, gonna have to figure out how to work on those.
On a different note, with the paint up, I'm starting to get a solid picture of the finished project and see that @Silva741 did an excellent job on the render.
Apologies for the lousy focus. Arms are a bit wobbly after getting the framing hung.
On a different note, with the paint up, I'm starting to get a solid picture of the finished project and see that @Silva741 did an excellent job on the render.
Apologies for the lousy focus. Arms are a bit wobbly after getting the framing hung.
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